Motorcycles

I've always been dreaming of riding my motorcycle on a race track, free of speed limits and idiots in cars. And recently, I did so, thanks to the Total Control Advanced Rider Course.

They had us do various classroom exercises between the 6 20-minute track sessions. We learned about trail braking, proper body position, proper line selection, and suspension setup, among other things.

While on the track, the 1st session was about line selection, the 2nd session was about trail braking, the 3rd session was about body position, the 4th session was about practicing weaknesses, and for the last two sessions we could try to go as fast as we could.

We were split into 7 groups during the sessions, with group 1 being the fastest and group 7 being the slowest (many cruisers in that group). I started out in group 5 but I was more similarly paced to group 4. Some of my riding buddies came along and some were about the same speed or a little slower than me, but a couple were far faster and ended up lapping me while dragging knee. (I'm not at that point yet)

I've done my fair share of spirited street riding but the speed and adrenaline is dwarfed by that on the track. I had a couple sketchy moments, once where I rode over the painted line for track entry from the pit and the rear slipped quite a bit, and another where I was trying to make a pass then my line was blocked and I went wide and panic braked, entering into the grass at 35mph. I stayed calm and I did not go down, but gosh that was scary.

Overall, I had a lot of fun, learned and leaned a lot, and can't wait for my next track day. I'm just hoping it didn't ruin street riding forever. RIP my wallet.

cross-posted from: https://fedia.io/m/micromobility@lemmy.world/t/2366432

An electric motorcycle bearing a Honda badge is bound to attract serious attention – and lately, the rumor mill has been buzzing. Has Honda finally launched its first fully functional electric motorcycle? You might’ve seen headlines suggesting as much, but there’s more to the story than meets the…

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/32180453

One of my favorite motorcycle YT channel randomly decided to get into algorithms.

Got caught in some rain so I stopped under and overpass to wait it out.

Hello Lemms

I have an XSR 900 and some old soft luggage from an XG 750. Does anyone have suggestions for mods that would help mount a tail and saddle bags? I am aware that the XSR and sportbikes are not made with touring in mind, but I am stubborn. Really the saddle bags are optional, but would like to be able to take them.

If you have ever gone on some road trips on a sport bike what tricks or mods did you use to have enough tie down points for your bags?

EDIT:

Thanks for all the advice! I got a lot of long detailed comments back. I’m reading each one and doing some research, but I wanted to make sure I thanked everyone for the replies!

Original Post:

Hello, Fediverse!

Recently, my company moved to remote work, full time. Since I’m not making a long commute each day, I’m really interested in getting a small bike I can ride for errands. I’d love to get some advice from this community about it.

Needs

First, I’m a woman at average or maybe even slightly below average height. I want to make sure it’s something I can actually ride without feeling like a little girl in mommy’s shoes.

Second, I don’t just want to ride. I want to work on it and learn how engines work. I’m a very mechanical person and I love this kind of thing. It’s fun for me. I’m happy to buy a bike that might not be running immediately because it gives me an opportunity to learn and tinker.

Last, I don’t need to go fast and I don’t want to take it in a big highway, but I do live near a state highway with a limit of 55mph. I’d like to be able to safely ride there:

Aesthetics

I’m not a huge fan of the Harley Davidson type low rider style but I wouldn’t rule it out entirely if it made sense against my other needs. I’m also open to scooters/mopeds if I can safely ride at 55mph.

I tend to like 80s style cars and bikes. Especially the bikes that aren’t quite sport but have some nods to it. Example: Kawasaki KZ, Honda CB, Suzuki GS, Yamaha XS (Japanese name followed by two consonants collection) ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Looks aren’t as important to me as the other needs to be honest.

Current Motorcycle Knowledge

Next to nothing. I know the basics of how an engine works. I know how to change my own oil. I have done big repairs on my own cars in the past, but with guides.

I plan on taking a riding class. I know I’ll need safety equipment, such as a helmet. I do have a gear-head in my life so I have someone that I can ask questions to, but I’m mostly starting at zero.

Aside from bike suggestions, I’d love to hear something you wish you knew before you got your first bike!

TLDR:

What would you recommend for someone who wants to learn about engines but isn’t particularly tall? Anything you wish you knew before getting your first bike?

Eacaped the house to go look at bikes and talk crap about bikes, found this matchless g50 IOM racer, 1 of 3 apprently but I forgot to ask what made it that rare.

Well used v-rod and a trx850

Modern stuff I liked

Bikes of my era I was drooling over

And some grom's I parked my Dax next to.

It is with great satisfaction that I report the banner image at the top of this page is now out of date.

The fourth bike in from the left, the blue one, is my old Bashan Enforcer (A.K.A. BSR-250, A.K.A.BS250GY-18D, A.K.A. Vitacci Raven, et cetera) which was a bike I bought for my nephew to learn to ride and also to tootle around behind me on adventure rides. This is a task at which it actually excelled. There wasn't a single damn thing wrong with it other than its tiny stature and even tinier engine. It did everything the big bikes did on our trips as long as it wasn't asked to do so quickly, thanks to cranking out only about 14 horsepower. This is much the same platform as the RPS Hawk 250 and its myriad derivatives, except the Bashan is genuinely 49 state street legal whereas the Hawk is an "off highway vehicle" you may or may not be able to talk your state into putting a plate on, and the Bashan is also built slightly better. Most if not all of the parts including bodywork are compatible.

But my nephew outgrew it pretty quickly and despite him throwing quite a bit of effort at it trying to make it faster -- new exhaust, carb, changing the sprocket ratios, etc. -- there's only so much you can squeeze out of a 229cc mill knocked off from Honda by the Chinese circa about 1988.

He was talking about finding a CRF250L Rally or a DR250.

A buddy of mine who flips bikes came into possession of exactly this CRF Rally was moaning to me about how he doesn't like it, because he wishes it was an XR650L. Hombre, do I have the perfect solution for you. So just yesterday we rolled this off his truck and now we have a new member of the family.

It's a 2018 and only has 3200 miles on it or so. Somebody obviously wiped out and put it down on its left hand side at some point in history which seems to be a recurring theme with all of the rescue bikes I've adopted over the years. There's a small dent in the tank and a scuff in the plastic on that side, no big deal in either case, and the rear luggage rack must have hit the ground because it was slightly bent. So I bent it back. Oh, and it was missing all of its reflectors because of course it was, hence the cheap Autozone bullshit screwed to it there just to get it through inspection. I'll do a better job on that later.

Two previous owners, only one not counting my friend who had it for about a week. The original owner was dad who bought this, for some damn fool reason, to follow his kids around on the trails on their dirt bikes. Why the hell he did not just buy a dirt bike in the first place is beyond me, so that's exactly what my buddy traded him for this.

Hey everyone, I'm looking for some insights of my fellow riders. I'm starting to carry more tactile stuff with me, pens, paper, a calendar, a small driver kit, some small tools, etc. For this I want to start carrying a bag. I like the flexibility of a sling/messenger bag, but I'm looking for experiences with them on a bike.

• Are they comfortable for commute driving (<45 minutes)?
• How is quick access?
• Do you use it outside of riding as well? I'd like it to be somewhat nice looking so I could carry it while walking / at music festivals for instance.
• Any extra information or recommendations are definitely welcome!

I'd love to hear your insights!

I was missing the track, but without a "proper" bike what were we to do?

Yeah go on the grocery getters, just the kick in the butt needed to get the above gold pitbike ready after not getting finished over the last two years, only beakdown was the shock coming undone, even the knobblies were good enough! my purple Dax didn't miss a beat, and after an hour and a half of track time we were both also beat.

(Alright to cross post like this between groups?)

Surprisingly, a ladybug hitched a ride across two days and big winds, all the way there and back. Me and my new buddy rode 550odd kilometers :)

Friday-Sunday rode 700+ miles. Explored dirt roads, ripping tar, and camping in the redwoods. Ended getting soaked in a microburst after crossing the 90 degree Central Valley. Couldn’t imagine a better weekend.

Here's mine, in order of ownership. I'd love to read about others' experiences.

Back in the late '90s I got my first anything with an engine, a fairly clapped out 50cc Yamaha Spy 2-stroke scooter. I was 16 and it was affordable transportation, but it lit the spark of interest in two-wheeled fun.

Then around 2002 I was in college and working part time, I sold the scooter and got a 1997 Yamaha Virago 125. My first 'real bike', with a thunderous 10 horsepower.

A couple of years later I graduated college and wound up getting a car to go to work in, as I lived in Ireland where it rains more often than not, and I could not afford nor have the space to keep the bike along with the car, so the Virago was sold.

Several years of 4-wheeled life pass by, then we arrive at 2014. During the previous 10 years I have moved to the US with my job, got married, and so forth. Now I'm old enough and financially solvent enough to afford a bike as well as a car and a place to live, and I go get my motorcycle endorsement (again, I essentially had to start over when I moved countries) and buy my first (and only) brand new bike - a white 2014 Suzuki v-Strom 650. I lived in Idaho at the time, which provided plenty of access to mountain roads and stuff to ride around on, it was a good fit. I kept the 'Strom until 2018 (I had recently moved to the flat midwest), and then started bike-hopping more.

I traded it in for a used and cheap (because they were very unpopular and wideley considered to be ugly) Honda CTX1300. I wanted to try something with a V4, and the OEM panniers and stuff were very attractive to me. I kept the CTX for just under a year, though. I just didn't fall in love with it. It was very comfortable and would be an excellent machine to ride across America in. Think of it as Goldwing lite. It felt a little bit too 'dad' for me at the time. Also it weighed like 725 lbs.

At the end of the season I traded again, this time getting myself onto a 2016 Yamaha XSR900. That bike was awesome. It had a torquey triple that could get going silly fast, with retro-influenced style. I rode the XSR for several years, and did some simple bolt-on mods like an improved LED headlight (the stock halogen was garbage), nice exhaust, better seat, etc.

I sold the XSR in spring of 2023 and bought a well-used 2014 BMW F800GT. It was a drop of about 30 horsepower from the XSR, but came with a lot of practicality, with OEM bags and stuff. However, this was another bike that I just didn't connect with, and I traded it in spring of 2024.

I replaced the BMW with a 2018 Triumph Tiger 1200 XRx with only 2,500 miles on it. It came with the expensive OEM panniers and is the first bike I've had with factory heated grips and seat. It also has gobs of power with that big triple, something I missed from the XSR. It doesn't get up and go quite like the XSR considering the extra weight and higher center of gravity, but it has more than enough power to keep me happy now. It also is a single-sided swingarm, shaft-drive setup which I think is pretty cool.

I still have that Triumph today, but a few weeks ago I acquired another bike - the 1975 Honda CB750F super sport pictured here. It has 34,000 miles and change on the odometer, but who knows how accurate that is. The state of Illinois doesn't require odometer readings for anything vintage. This is my first inline four bike, and I've been enjoying riding it around. It makes the 2018 Triumph feel like an absolute rocketship. I haven't hard carbs since that late '90s Virago!

The CB had 35-year-old hard-as-rock dry-rotted tires on it, but otherwise it ran pretty great. I've replaced the tires (that was a real pain in the ass, I don't think I want spoked wheels again on a future bike), and have tweaked a few things to make it run even better. Next job on the list is new brake pads and steel-braided lines. The front brake lines appear to be original from 1975 and they're spanked. Also, the front brake light switch is kaput. That's plumbed into the brake lines so I'll replace that when I do the lines.

It certainly helps to have a community of vintage bike nerds in the area to give advice, most shops do not want to work on anything this old.

Did ya ever nick your dads bike and go for a sedate spin to the beach for ice-cream? has to be sedate, she's 60 years old now, runs like a watch. with loud exhausts coz' them internals have long rotted away :)

Think I'd better bring home some ice-cream.

A garda (Irish police) officer has died whilst carrying out a speed checkpoint in County Dublin.

The front shock absorber on my Vespa GTS 250 has been dying fast since the season started. A new one is on its way. I'll stay with the Carbone Sport but the replacement is going to have a black spring instead of red.

Looks like the shock comes with a tool for rotating the bit at the bottom that sets preload for the spring. As seen in the pic, the previous owner (bless the guy - the bike is customised with great execution) opted to tighten it a notch. I love the feel as it is, so I'll need to adjust the new one to the same notch.

Now, the tool is not very long, and I'd imagine it'll be hard work to work against the spring with little leverage. Does anybody know how stiff is it going to be - can I expect to be able to set the preload after installation with the provided tool, or should I do it beforehand when I can put the shock in a vise and use a more substantial tool?

The trail took an interesting turn when they had closed the original trail with a dirt mound. Initially I thought I had to turn around, but somehow I was able to convince myself otherwise. One of the scariest things I ended up doing on this trip.

Also figured out I had been uploading videos in half the resolution for some reason.